The Price
by Alto2
Summary: He thought he knew what he was getting into, and things were so desperate he would have done anything to get rid of Voldermort, however he hadn't known that killing the Dark Lord would only be the beginning. Slash. Creature!Harry. Will be M in the future.
1. Prologue

This is just a Prologue, I got this idea and just had to run with it. This is slash, and a creature!fic of sorts, but it'll be a few chapters in before we start seeing interactions between the pairing so I think I'll avoid telling the who harry is with for the time being for those of you who like surprises, if you don't like not knowing however, feel free to PM me and I'll be happy to fill you in :).

Disclaimer: I don't own HP or make money off this story.

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><p>Tense hands, suntanned and scarred, slowly applied the last of the oil to their owner's collarbones. The entire body of the man lay out, naked as the day it was born, glistening from similar treatment and utterly still. Everything other than arms and neck was covered, including the skin around dark emerald eyes the left of which was held open while the right was held closed. The room was dark around its edges, although the center was illuminated with many candles, each of which smelled of a rich cinnamon, cloying the air with their aroma. The atmosphere was thick with intent and the energy of the ritual being performed, slowly and with precision despite the rush and the need the situation truly called for. This part must be done right; rushing forward with a foolish head would not work with this type of magic, for the dark was not as forgiving as its counterpart.<p>

Next, the figure picked up an object from the bowl beside it, the embers inside hissing as they were disturbed. He gripped the covered handle, the tiny tip glowing white-blue with magic and heat, the air growing thicker. Slowly the man brought the object to his hip, gritting his teeth before willing himself into submission, granting his magic permission to harm himself rather than heal and protect. The intent was the most important in these steps, for that is where the strength came from. Weak-willed people would never be able to attempt such, and the ritual would mock the caster with a truly gruesome end after it was completed if you were not worthy. Such was the nature of the cruel temptress dark magic was.

Once his resolve was firm, the raven haired one brought the tip down, beginning to painstakingly mark parallel lines into his scarred flesh. He began at his left hip, than created a mirror image on the right hipbone. The smell of burnt flesh and dark magic began to permeate the air as he drew an intricate design around his navel, the hours upon hours of practicing these exact designs in marker upon his flesh paying off as he did not mess up despite the awkward position. Slowly he began to work himself into a trance, one part of his mind playing the willing sacrifice, offering its body up to magic, the other part being the tool of magic itself, getting the offering ready to receive magic's will.

He made his way up the right side, the path of symbols curving over the defined pectoral muscles and finishing its trial between the two collarbones. Sweat dotted the flesh now, mixing with wounds spelled against cauterization that bled freely across his skin, hand aiming to place the last rune on the closed eyelid of his right eye.

The magic became oppressive at this point, making moves slow and sluggish as if the atmosphere itself had gathered in this room to witness the end. As the design was finished and blood began to slowly pool in the indent of the closed lid he began to chant. Guttural words speaking of the offering, of the acceptance of any price, than the most important part came. A reason honest and given freely.

Dark magic wouldn't work for just anyone, it must deem your purpose worthy and wouldn't simply reward sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice. As such, as he whispered the last words, words that spoke of the abuse of magic in the world. He spoke of the need to get rid of the raging battle so things could be righted to how they should be once again.

He couldn't be sure that his offering would be accepted, but once he was done he waited and hoped magic had heard.

Magic was indeed in the room, and magic deemed the reason acceptable. He got a response of whispered words, sensual and feminine, inside his ear. The terms, to save magic, to restore the true balance not of good and bad, but to return dark magic to its proper place as part of society. She was angry, the voice hissed, for those she had deemed worth her blessing turned their backs on her, using lights spells instead and hurting her and her brother. If the balance was not restored, the voice said, than there would be no more magic for humans. They would give him time, but if he could not accomplish it than they would carry through with this threat.

Then, magic rewarded the sacrifice; it gave the man laying still the power to get rid of the dark lord. However, by doing so magic also cursed him, making him into a creature that would be shunned by the wizarding world as it was now.

Thus, the boy-who-lived, Gryffindor and well-known light wizard, completed his dark ritual. He was surrounded by ebony strands of magic, encasing and changing his body where it lay. And when the magic seeped away, retreating from the room and bringing chill back into the dungeon room, the still form remained on its stone slab. Lips bleeding from the unexpected growth of eye teeth, eyes slanted to better protect from the suns glare, skin darkened to protect better against the suns fierce rays, sharpened nails leaving crescents in hips near their runic markings, the tool used before lying in a melted spot on the table where it had landed once magic overcame him. No other visible traits were altered, but biologically the man was much different as he would soon come to know. Now was not that time however, for Harry Potter was asleep where he lay, no longer held still by the oils power but unmoving all the same.

Once he awoke there would be time, time to realize what he had become. Time to remember the demands upon him and ponder the price he would face, for it seemed magic had put a lot upon him and would expect its due return. There would be even more time to think on how he would accomplish this.

But for now he lay, for tomorrow would be tomorrow, and tonight he would sleep for the last time with a clear conscious for a long while.

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><p>So what do you think? I'm of a mind that this is a fairly different concept for Harry being a magial creature, but that may just be me.<p>

Just curious, can anyone guess what our dear Potter has become? Review or PM and let me know! :)

Till Next Time


	2. Chapter 1

Hey! So this is the real first chapter. A little background, Harry went a little crazy after his godfather died and did the ritual you see before _instead_ of blowing up Dumbledore's office. As a result, he still doesn't know the prophecy, and he's still internally pissed at the Headmaster...yep its going to be a bumpy ride folks :)

Dislciamer: I don't own HP or make money off this

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><p>The summer had been pure torture so far, even if the solitude had been a good thing for his state of mind…probably. The Dursley's were as they always were, cold and distant until they needed a scapegoat for their problems, than verbally abusive and neglectful until they'd calmed down. Considering Grunning's was having a bad year and Vernon was close to losing his job that meant that he spent quite a bit of time being ignored or yelled at. The being yelled at was hard to deal with, as more rage than usual seemed to simmer from somewhere inside of him in response. It took him until he had a similar reaction to Dudley for him to understand what was going on, he had wanted to just punch the little blob instead of running way from his "gang" as he usually did. That's when he realized he was feeling more aggressive than normal. That was ok though, it was a side effect that wasn't too unexpected and honestly it was about time he stopped being afraid of his cousin…or at least afraid of what they'd do to him. In the situation anger was preferable.<p>

There were a lot of other side effects to get used to though, and being away from anyone magical was actually a blessing in this case. His relatives already thought he was a freak and hated him, so his odd behavior was ignored or scoffed at than left alone because they'd been doing all they could in response to his "odd" behavior already. By contrast Wizards would have been all over him, asking what was wrong or examining his changes, than they might actually find him out what he'd done and that would be…problematic to say the least.

Back to the side effects. He'd noticed changes at first of course, immediately after waking up he'd been able to tell that he was stronger. He could feel it immediately, knew without having to check. Each and every limb, though sore, had felt like rusty joints freshly oiled, stronger and in working order after so long without any sort of real use. Not just the physical seemed to be working better though, his magic seemed so free and flowing, like before it had been clogged in a similar way to sink and though he hadn't known any different than, now that it was flowing so smoothly he could tell the difference. His magic rushing through him as if a river, unobstructed and free, felt glorious.

It had been exhilarating if not a bit scary when he'd first woken up, and as a result he'd hidden out from everyone in a compartment pretending to sleep in a corner instead of taking the risk of discovering something bad about himself in front of the others. It wasn't just because he felt stronger that he'd been scared though, his changed appearance had made him afraid of what he'd been, and immediately thinking he may have been a vampire or something. He'd spent the whole trip reading under his cloak in that corner as a response, doing his best to look up creatures. While he'd been able find that he wasn't a vampire, he still hadn't known _what_ he was and that had made him wary.

He still was wary really, but at least he knew he could still control his temper and didn't go off on murdering spree's, which was his main concern truly. His research had been useless in the end though, as he couldn't find any sort of being that fit his description. Oh sure, bits and pieces here and there worked, but nothing was…exact.

He'd noticed some things were different though, like not only did he feel stronger but he physically was. When his aunt made him replant the garden it had been simple to lift the bag of soil he'd needed, when before he would have struggled with something of that size and weight. He'd been having growth spurts all summer too, to match his strength. He hadn't noticed at first, because he was in too big clothes to begin with, but while Dudley may be chubbier than his slight frame, the growth spurt up had eventually become obvious as inches of bare skin on his ankles started showing beneath the cuffs of his jeans. As a result he'd taken to simply wearing shorts or cut-off jeans and, when his torso lengthened and made his shirts into belly-shirts, he'd just gone shirtless instead of dealing with it. This plus the yard work had made him develop quite the healthy tan, and with that brought another discovery.

He'd been studying his arms at the time, amazed at how fast he was tanning this year, when he noticed that his veins seemed pale against his skin, not just discolored like they should be. Eventually he'd been so overcome by curiosity that he'd made a small paper cut like mark on the top of his hand, and while the blood had been red like he'd expected…it hadn't been the dark color he'd anticipated. In fact, his blood almost glowed once he'd gotten it out of his veins.

That had been a fun freak out to get over.

After that though he'd worked on getting an even darker tan, as he noticed from the pale skin left on his legs that his veins were beginning to stand out more there than on the darker portions of his body.

As time wore on though he noticed that he started to feel sluggish, a rusty feeling invading his joints and the flow of his magic becoming more lethargic, so it trickled one day and rushed the next. It was making it harder and harder to keep a reign on his temper like this as the randomly spiking pulse enhanced his emotions, especially the anger. He couldn't quite complain though, as he adjusted fairly quickly to the changes. Nothing in his life had ever been set in stone anyway, and he was fairly good at expecting the unexpected at this point.

Truly he was becoming a master at looking for the silver lining, like the strength thing and finally being tall, while ignoring all the other shite.

At first all of this had distracted him from the main issue, Sirius dying, but eventually he did have to face the reality of that fact. It took him a long time of grieving and just feeling a frustrated hopelessness before he shoved that into the back of his mind by starting a new hobby, going to the public library. He didn't actually have a card or anything, but he could read books there if he didn't try to take them out, and so eventually he would escape there every day, when the Dursley's so much as blinked he'd do his best to escape. It worked out for the best, as this way he also had less chance of killing them all in their sleep for having to listen to them whine and complain all day…among other things.

The library eventually turned out to be one of his better idea's, as it was there he figured out why he was tanning so fast. Or at least he thought he now knew why. He'd been looking through the science section when he'd come across a paragraph explaining how tanning was just a reaction to the sun, and that the pigmentation was a protection against the ray's. Considering he had quite a few traits of other creatures (mainly being vampire he'd found at this point) and vampires weren't exactly fans of the sun. Something to do with no flowing blood, so no cell reproduction…at least not in a normal way, and so they actually couldn't tan or have any protection from its ray's by normal means. With that information he hypothesized that the fast tanning was just his magic or body reacting to the new sensitivity by tanning him faster…it didn't all add up, as the reason vampires had trouble with the sun didn't apply to him. He chalked that distinction up to the fact that his blood wasn't normal either however, and decided to tackle it more deeply when he got back to the Wizarding world.

One other major thing he started to learn in the library though, was law and finance. There really wasn't a whole lot of information that he found in the regular school subjects that he could use in the Wizarding world…or at least wanted to use. So, he'd gravitated towards the area on media laws, his experience with Skeeter making him wonder if the muggle world had to put up with that crap too. It had been an enlightening experience to say the least, and made him wonder if there weren't some Wizarding laws that just were ignored because he was the "chosen one". This made him look even more into the law, wanting to have some sort of idea what the system worked like (in case he ever gave up on the Wizarding world and fled really) and that eventually led to finance. He'd wondered about Gringotts, and how it worked in relation to a muggle bank, as he had no real knowledge of either. This led to the discovery of investments and stocks and all sorts of other things he'd heard mentioned, but had never really known about.

To sum it all up he learned more about the world outside of Hogwarts or the Dursley's, and he felt better for it. He finally was seeing that there was more to the world than just the here and now, it was an eye opening experience to say the least. Maybe he was growing up? Or perhaps it was just him finally finding a thirst for knowledge, either way it centered him in a way revenge or anything else couldn't have.

Of course, once he'd established a routine and was content, something had to come up and disturb his solitude. His disturbance came later that evening, when he returned home to find the Order of the Phoenix waiting for him…_bugger._

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><p>So what's the verdict? Goodbad? Review and let me know! :) As for the pairing it's pretty set in stone but I don't know if I should reveal it before it happens, do you guys want a little mystery or something to look forward too?

Till Next Time


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